Editorial: Finally, Congress stands up to President Trump

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, arrives in the Senate where she has said she will vote for a resolution to annul President Donald Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the southwest border, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, March 14, 2019. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Photo: J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press

Republicans in the U.S. House and Senate displayed a rare but welcome willingness to defend principle over President Trump on Thursday.

Twelve Senate Republicans joined Democrats in a 59 to 41 vote to overturn Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump concocted the faux emergency as a pretext to shift federal funds for construction of the border wall he promised during the 2016 campaign. Of course, Trump repeatedly had pledged during those rallies that the project would be cost-free to American taxpayers: Mexico would be compelled to pay for it, he assured.

Some of the Republicans who supported the resolution of disapproval did not necessarily object to funding the border barrier. One of the driving points of opposition was a concern that it would set a precedent for future presidents to use their emergency powers to spend money or enact policies against the expressed will of Congress.

“The problem with this is that after a Revolutionary War against a king, our nation’s founders gave to Congress the power to approve all spending so that the president would not have too much power,” Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said in a statement. “This check on the executive is a crucial source for our freedom.”

The Senate vote, following a similar move in the House, marked the first time Congress overruled a presidential order of national emergency.

Trump responded with a one-word tweet: “VETO!”

It would take a two-thirds vote in each chamber to override the expected veto. Unless a significant number of additional Republicans decide to defend their constitutionally established legislative prerogative instead of their boundary-pushing president, Trump’s veto will stand. Still, the vote hints at a sign of spine in the GOP ranks.

It came on the same day the House voted 420-0 for a nonbinding resolution to make public the entirety of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Americans deserve no less.

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